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Frontier Conference Notebook
Former Havre Blue Pony and current Carroll College star Dani Wagner, right, handles the ball during a game against the Montana State University-Northern Skylights back in January. Wagner helped the Fighting Saints to the Frontier Conference women's regular season title. The Frontier playoffs begin Wednesday night for the women, when the Skylights travel to Montana Western for a first-round game. Northern tied for sixth in the final league standings but Montana Tech held tiebreakers over MSU-N for the No. 6 seed.
To say the Frontier Conference men's and women's basketball season was exciting would be putting it mildly. In many ways, the Frontier may have easily been the toughest league in the NAIA this season.
Now though, it's all about the postseason, as the Frontier playoffs begin tonight.
On the men's side, Lewis-Clark State (27-3, 15-3) won the league title outright, and earned a first-round bye. The Warriors will host the lowest remaining seed in the tourney in the semifinals on Friday.
Tonight, fourth-seeded Montana Tech (18-11, 10-8) hosts fifth-seeded Montana State University-Northern (19-11, 9-9) in Butte. Carroll College (22-8, 13-5) earned the No. 2 seed and will host last-place Rocky Mountain College (6-21, 1-17) in Helena while third-seeded Providence (23-7, 11-7) hosts sixth-seeded Montana Western (11-18, 4-14) in Great Falls. The semifinals will be played Friday night, and the men's championship game will be held at the top remaining seed Monday night.
The women's playoffs begin Wednesday night. Carroll (13-5, 21-9) earned the No. 1 seed and will have a bye on the first round.
Montana Western (12-6, 19-10) finished second and will host Northern (4-14, 15-15), which tied for sixth, but is the No. 7 seed, Wednesday in Dillon. LC State (11-7, 19-9) is the No. 3 seed and will host Montana Tech (4-14, 14-16) while Rocky (10-8, 19-10) is home to host fifth-seeded Providence (9-9, 18-12) in Billings. The women's semifinals will be played Saturday night, while the championship game will be held Tuesday night at the highest remaining seed.
Final Leaders
With the regular season in the books, it's time to take a look at the final statistical leaders in the Frontier.
On the women's side, Rocky senior Markaela Francis won the scoring title with an 18 ppg average. Tech's Tavia Rooney was the top rebounder at 11 per night, while Providence' Emilee Maldonado led the league in assists at 5 per outing. LCSC's Peyton Souvenir was tops in steals at 2.14 per game, while Northern's Hailey Nicholson, whose season was cut short by injury, led the Frontier in blocks at two per game.
UP's Zach Darko-Kelly won the Frontier men's scoring title with a whopping 24 points per game average. He was also fifth in the NAIA in scoring. Carroll's Jovan Sljivancanin led the league in rebounding at 11 per game, while LC's Damek Mitchell averaged six assists per night. Darko-Kelly also led the league in steals (2.24) and blocks (1.41).
Frontier Honors
LC State's Travis Yenor was named Frontier Conference Men's Player of the Week. He averaged 26 points and seven rebounds as LC clinched the Frontier last week.
Rocky's Markaela Francis was named Frontier Women's Player of the Week. She averaged 30 points and four rebounds in two games last week. Northern's Adam Huse and Sydney Hovde were also nominated.
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